To Be There
by weirdgirl42
Summary: Rush does something unexpected. He's there for someone else. Post Divided. First SGU fic.


_Disclaimer: I own like three things total, and none of them are SGU._

_Author's Note: Rush has been my favorite character from the beginning. And I am quickly becoming a Rush/Chloe fan as well._

**To Be There**

"I don't think you understand the seriousness of the situation."

Rush leaned his head against his hand and pinched the bridge of his nose. "No Colonel, I don't think you understand. I can't just flip a switch and suddenly increase available power. Not without compromising various vital systems first."

"That's fine," Scott interjected. "But what happens when those aliens catch up with us and our shield is only working at fifty percent?"

"We have no reason to believe the aliens will even be able to track us anymore. My surgery, as it was, took care of that."

"We can't know that for sure," Young said, his voice low and teetering on the edge. "And where we're sitting now is unacceptable."

Rush could feel a migraine coming on. They had become considerably less frequent after he went through withdrawal but Young always seemed to bring them out again. "Maybe," he began, "if you would let me work instead of coming down here making unrealistic…"

He was cut off by Young and Scott's radios. _"Colonel Young come in?"_

Young pressed the talk button on his radio. "What's up TJ?"

"_Is Scott with you?"_

"Yeah," Scott replied. "We're in the control room. What's going on?"

"_It's Chloe. She's having some kind of panic attack. She won't let me near her. I thought maybe Scott might be able to calm her down."_

Young and Scott were too concerned with this news to notice that Rush's head had shot up and he was staring intently at the pair.

"Where are you?" Young asked.

"_In the showers."_

Before the radio had even crackled out, Rush was on his feet and running out of the control room. Young and Scott watched him go with identical expressions of alarm on their faces.

"What in the hell?" Young said as the two of began running towards the showers and after Rush. They could see the other man rounding corners and then all but punch the door control button once he'd reached the showers.

TJ looked up at the sound of the door opening, expecting to see Young and Scott. The sight of Rush breathing heavily after running the whole way from the control room, was the last thing predicted.

"Where is she?" he asked.

Scott and Young had appeared behind him and for a moment TJ was flustered and unable to respond.

"Where is she dammit?" he repeated.

TJ pointed to the right. As Rush pushed past her she looked at the other two men who seemed as baffled as she was. Or rather, Young seemed baffled. Scott seemed more angry. The three of them walked over to where TJ had pointed.

Rush didn't even notice the others. Once TJ had indicated where Chloe was his mind had become as focused as it was when he was working on the ship. The young woman was sitting on the floor in a corner of the room. Her knees were pulled up to her chest. She was naked, and Rush could see that her skin and hair were still damp from the misty shower. She gave no indication that she had heard him approach. She just rocked back and forth, her breathing strangled.

"Chloe," Rush said softly, squatting down a few feet away from her.

"No!" she shouted, her eyes closed tightly. "Stop! I can't breathe in the tank." She began flailing her arms around.

Rush dropped to his knees and moved closer. At this, both Scott and Young started to move forward, the anger on Scott's face growing stronger. But TJ put an arm out and stopped them. "Wait," she said. She stared down their looks of protest until they relented and stayed back.

Oblivious to all of this, Rush reached out and grasped Chloe's wrists as gently as he could. "It's okay," he said. "It's okay. It's okay."

At his words, the same ones he had said to her once before, Chloe stopped flailing. She let out a strangled sob, "They're in our heads. I can't breathe."

"Chloe look at me," Rush said.

"There's so much water." She sobbed again, her lungs fighting against the imagined water tank.

Rush dropped his hands turned his head towards the others, acknowledging their presence for the first time. "Give me a towel," he said, his voice leaving little room for argument. As TJ looked around the shower for a towel, Young and Scott watched as Rush quickly shed his vest and tossed it behind him. Then he pulled off his t-shirt and slipped it over Chloe's head.

TJ appeared beside him with the towel. He took it from her and nodded briefly before turning back to Chloe. He brought the soft cloth to her face and wiped away any lingering moisture, whether from the shower or from her tears. Then he did the same to her arms and legs where the t-shirt didn't cover.

The scene was becoming too much for Scott to deal with. He had watched Chloe pull further and further away from him since being captured by the aliens. The failed coup had all but solidified the end of their relationship. But the sight of Rush being the one Chloe turned to, the one who was so tenderly helping her, made his blood boil. Without a word he turned and left the room.

Young shared Scott's shock and even some of his anger. Something about all of this seemed wrong somehow. Rush wasn't supposed to be gentle, wasn't supposed to care about anyone or anything besides Destiny. And yet, here he was drying Chloe's hair with a towel.

Rush didn't notice Scott leave. He didn't notice the way Young was glaring at him or how high TJ's eyebrows had gotten. Even if he had, their response to the situation was so low on the things he currently cared about that he wouldn't have given them a second thought.

When he was satisfied that Chloe was dry enough he tossed the towel to one side. The young woman's breathing had begun to even out, though she still hadn't looked up.

"So much water," she whimpered again.

Rush brought his hands to rest on either side of her face. "We got out. We're on Destiny." He slowly raised her head until her eyes finally met his.

"Nick?" she said.

"Aye."

Chloe reached out and touched his chest. Rush looked down at his white long sleeved shirt and realized she was touching the place where the aliens had implanted the tracking device. He grasped her hand in one of his, the other still on her face. "It's alright. They can't hurt us anymore."

Something broke in Chloe then. Tears raced down her face and she leaned forward until her head was resting against his chest. Rush hesitated for only a moment before he brought his arms to wrap around her shaking body.

Young sighed from where he was standing. TJ looked at him and shrugged. "He was there," she said softly by way of explanation. She placed a hand on Young's shoulder and led them both out of the room.

Chloe cried until she couldn't anymore. But she didn't move from her place curled against Rush, and he didn't let go. "When will it stop?" she whispered.

"I don't know," he replied honestly.

"It's bad enough when it's only dreams."

Rush said nothing.

"I'm sorry," she said.

Out of some kind of instinct he would have sworn was long dead inside him, he gently kissed the top of her head. "Don't be sorry."

This began a fresh round of tears. Rush felt his own pushing at his eyes but he held them in. "It's okay," he repeated softly into her hair. "It's okay. It's okay. It's okay."

**The End**

_I know Rush is a little out of character but I believe he has a compassion we just haven't seen yet. _

_Please review! _


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